This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) on patent application Ser. No. 02079456.6 filed in Europe on Oct. 14, 2002, which is herein incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to presenting information regarding a plurality of devices in a proximate environment, such as for monitoring the operating status of a plurality of image processing devices located in a reprographic department, and more particularly to a portable terminal for presenting such information to an operator.
In a central reprographics department it is very important that the image processing devices will continue to operate. Paper jams, print jobs which need special inserts, empty paper trays and full finishers are examples of operating states in which the image processing device will stop operating and operator interaction is immediately required. However, the operator could be out of reach of the image processing device's audible or visible clues, or could be away from a central base processor.
There is therefore a need for a portable terminal for monitoring the image processing devices.
2. Background Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,548 discloses a copying system wherein operation modes of a copying machine are set using an IC card located at a distance from the copying machine. The IC card has: a transmitter for transmitting a signal that contains an identification code for identifying the IC card itself, an identification code for identifying a specific copying machine, and prestored operation mode setting information for the copying machine; a receiver for receiving a signal transmitted from the copying machine; a CPU for identifying the copying machine and its operating condition; and a display. The copying machine has a transmitter for transmitting a signal that contains an identification code for identifying the copying machine itself, an identification code for identifying the IC card, and information concerning the operating condition of the copying machine itself; a receiver for receiving a signal transmitted from the IC card; and a CPU for identifying the originating IC card and for setting the copying machine operation mode. When the IC card comes within a short distance from the specific copier, the copier takes on the operating mode stored in the IC card and transmits its operating condition to the IC card, which displays it.
In this known system, the IC card can be used for monitoring a specific copier, but it is only operational during the processing of reproduction jobs that have been started under its control. It does not give information on other devices, or even on the specific device for which it is programmed, when another operator has started a job on that device.
There is therefore a need for a portable terminal that is able to present information regarding a plurality of devices. However, since such a portable terminal must be small to be handled easily, it cannot display all this information at once, and, moreover, such information would be too much for an operator to maintain an overview.
As a solution for this problem, a copending patent application of the present applicant proposes to provide a portable terminal that can, at the selection of an operator, present a general system status overview, or a status report of one selected device.
In the present patent application there is proposed a selection means for selecting any of the devices to be monitored, with the aim of providing intuitively, operable selection elements that can be handled by any operator without specific training.
European Patent Application No. 0 498 082 discloses a selection mechanism for use in a PC, that is adapted to natural movements of an operator and is therefore easy to operate. A menu of selection options is displayed on the PC display screen, the options being placed in a curved band around a circular or kidney-shaped selection window. The inner part of the selection window contains further selection options.
This mechanism, however, still makes use of physically disconnected selection means, such as a display monitor and a digitizer tablet with a co-operating stylus, such that the operator still has to coordinate a hand movement at one place and a display image at a different place. Also, this mechanism is not suitable for a small portable terminal.
WO 02/39712 discloses a device for controlling a menu on a display wherein the menu is arranged as a plurality of simultaneously displayed menu items in a loop and a selector for selecting a menu item, the loop and the selector being movable with respect to each other. The user input device for controlling the selection has a loop configuration and a movement around the loop causes a corresponding relative movement between the selector and the loop of the menu. Although a better solution than that of EP 0 498 082, the two loop movements are still physically disconnected with all drawbacks thereof.